Airline Logos

Olympic Airlines is the flag carrier airline of Greece, based in Athens. It operates services to 35 domestic destinations and to 39 destinations world-wide. Its main base is Athens International Airport, with a hub at Thessaloniki International Airport, Macedonia.

Although the logo resembles that of the Olympic Games, the airline is not named after the biggest international sporting event but rather after the Twelve Olympians, the principal grouping of gods and goddesses in Greek mythology, residing in Mount Olympus.

According to the Olympic Airways archives, the first logo of Olympic was a white eagle, bearing much resemblance to a propeller, featuring five rings and the name Olympic. Just two years after the first flight, Onassis asked his associates to design a new logo and the coloured rings were created. Onassis wanted to copy the five coloured rings of the Olympic Games logo, but the International Olympic Committee claimed the rights to the logo and so a new, six ring logo was introduced. The first five rings stand for the five continents, while the sixth stands for Greece. Colours used were yellow, red, blue and white.